Harrington Disappointed to Miss BMW

Harrington at R&A clinic in Sunningdale

Padraig Harrington has spoken of his frustration at being forced out of this week's BMW PGA Championship through injury.

The Dubliner has been sidelined by a knee injury and admits he is "absolutely gutted" to miss the European Tour's flagship event at Wentworth.

Indeed, such is his disappointment that the 39-year-old has decided to spend this weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix rather than put himself through the agony of watching.

"It's so hard, especially when I was starting to feel good at the weekend," he stated.

"I was thinking I might have pulled out a bit early, but it's gone from acute pain to persistent niggling pain and it seems the physios know a thing or two."

"I've never been to a Grand Prix, but I can't sit at home watching another tournament and I'm basically going to have a week's holiday to get me away from the temptation of practising." 

Padraig HarringtonQuotes of the week

Harrington was at nearby Sunningdale on Tuesday in his role as a Royal and Ancient Club ambassador for a clinic with schoolchildren brought together by the Golf Foundation charity.

He also found time to attend the European Tour's awards dinner at a Heathrow hotel last night, but from there it was off to Monte Carlo rather than Wentworth.

"I've never been to a Grand Prix, but I can't sit at home watching another tournament and I'm basically going to have a week's holiday to get me away from the temptation of practising," he added.

Harrington expects to reacquaint himself with his clubs next week when he makes a trip to this year's Open Championship venue, Sandwich.

Meanwhile, his next tournament appearance will be in Memphis at the St Jude Classic on June 9th - 12th, a week before the US Open.

Tiger Agent Mark Steinberg Leaves IMG

Tiger Woods and Mark Steinberg

Mark Steinberg, the agent for Tiger Woods the last 12 years and head of the IMG golf division, did not renew his contract this week and is no longer with the sports management company.

IMG announced a reorganisation of its golf division Tuesday evening, with Steinberg no longer involved. The move could lead to Woods leaving Cleveland-based IMG, which has represented him his entire career.

Steinberg's contract was to expire in June.

He was negotiating a new deal with IMG on Tuesday when talks broke down, according to two officials aware of the discussions. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information.

Steinberg did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

The officials said Woods and Annika Sorenstam would be free to leave IMG and stay with Steinberg if they wanted. Woods signed with IMG when he turned pro in August 1996, and Steinberg became his agent three years later.

At a press conference earlier Tuesday to promote the AT&T National outside Philadelphia, Woods was asked about his future with IMG and with Steinberg.

"I'm committed to both, with IMG, and Mark's my agent," Woods said. "It's been a great relationship. I had a chance to go through a lot of ... basically my entire professional career and learn a lot about the business."

Woods spoke of going to several dinners with IMG founder Mark H. McCormack until he died in 2003.

"Then obviously, my relationship with Mark (Steinberg)," he said. "But I'm very happy with both."

Woods has a close relationship with Steinberg, a reserve on the Illinois basketball team that went to the Final Four in 1989. If he were to leave IMG and stay with Steinberg, it likely would not make much of a difference in his golf schedule or even his endorsements, as Steinberg did most of that work.

Steinberg has been actively seeking an endorsement for Woods' bag since late last fall.

In a two-sentence press release Tuesday evening, IMG said Guy Kinnings and Robbie Henchman would be co-heads of IMG Golf. Kinnings was senior vice president of European golf operations, while Henchman was senior vice president of golf in Asia Pacific.

Alastair Johnston, the vice chairman of IMG, will oversee the business of the golf division.

IMG's billionaire owner, 71-year-old Ted Forstmann, is battling brain cancer. 

In an interview published Tuesday in The New York Times, Forstmann said he wants to build IMG "quicker than I was going to" so he can pour the money into a charitable trust and give it away.

Garcia Forced out of Open Qualifier

Sergio Garcia

England’s Brian Davis topped the qualifiers for the British Open after a six under par round of 64 at the Gleneagles Club in Plano, Texas as Sergio Garcia was forced out with an infected fingernail.

Davis finished one shot ahead of American Chad Campbell as heavy rain forced the qualifier to be reduced from 36 holes to 18. No longer exempt after falling out of the world’s top 50, Garcia was on level par when he quit after four holes.

Runner-up to Padraig Harrington at Carnoustie four years ago after bogeying the final hole and then losing a play-off, the 31-year-old Spaniard could still make it to Sandwich in July through upcoming events.

But now 73rd in the world — he was second behind Tiger Woods just over two years ago — he has also entered a qualifying event in Memphis on June 6th for the US Open the following week.

Joining Davis and Campbell in July will be Australia’s Nathan Green who shot a 66, a score matched by Americans Davis Love III, Spencer Levin, Chris Tidland and Bob Estes. The final spot on offer went to a Jerry Kelly after a play-off.

Manuel Shares Memories at Seve ProAm

Olazabal and Jimenez at Seve Pro Am

Manuel Ballesteros broke down in tears as some of golf's biggest names turned up at Wentworth on Monday to pay tribute to his late brother Severiano.

Manuel was an experienced professional himself and had already won in Europe when his younger brother burst on to the scene in the mid-1970s.

However, Ballesteros senior put his own career to one side in order to help Seve, who died earlier this month at the age of 54 after a two-year battle with brain cancer, start on the road to greatness.

"I have so much history with Seve, more than his nephews, more than my other two brothers, more than the rest of the family," 61-year-old Manuel said.

"I used to travel with him on the circuit, I shared a room with him, practised with him. I was there with him when he won all five of his majors, apart from the 1983 US Masters.

"He was the most charismatic player, the player with the most genius. But I have lost my brother, not a golfing genius, and he was someone I was very proud of," said a tearful Manuel as he made his way up the hill leading to the iconic Wentworth clubhouse.

Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal, eight-times European number one Colin Montgomerie, U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell, Retief Goosen, Paul Casey, Justin Rose and Ross Fisher were among the competitors in Monday's 'Ole Seve' pro-am.

All funds raised from the event were in aid of the Seve Ballesteros Foundation and Cancer Research UK.

Manuel, who won twice during his professional career, paid an especially warm tribute to Seve's former Ryder Cup partner Olazabal.

"He and Seve were very good friends."

Manuel revealed he had serious health problems of his own shortly before his brother's death.

"I had heart surgery 15 days before he died," said the 61-year-old. "I feel better but I still feel some pain and I take tablets to help.

"I have nothing artificial round my heart but I feel lucky to be alive. I said before the surgery, 'Don't tell Seve because he has enough on his mind', but someone from the family told him and he was crying, crying, crying.

"I'm not angry but I was upset by that."

His eyes lit up though when he looked back fondly at Seve's early days on tour.

"He was 17 when he started and I was 25," Manuel explained. "I had already been playing tournaments for seven years in Europe so I did everything for him, booked his air tickets, accommodation, everything off the course, so that nobody would bother him.

"All he needed to concentrate on was practice, practice, practice and playing, playing, playing."

Manuel said his handsome young brother was always destined to be a top golfer.

Asked if he knew Seve would one day be the world number one, he replied: 'No, not really - who can be sure that his own brother can be the best player in the world?

"I knew he was going to be a really good player but I never imagined he could win five majors. I am no god but I knew at that age he was going to be one of the best, at least in Europe."

All The Fun May End in Tweers....

Ian Poulter

It all started off as a bit of fun between a group of golfers - Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood - providing for the most part good banter and jokes for following fans. Along with some valuable quotes for journalists which more often than not end up as newspaper quotes. 

But now the experiences of other sports have crept in as the negative element of Twitter threatens to claim another casualty as world number one, Westwood, is suggesting he will close his account. The change of mind comes after some abusive messages which has left the Worksop professional somewhat baffled. 

“It’s a shame people can’t distinguish between abuse and banter,’ said Westwood, who has more than 200,000 followers. ‘It’s supposed to be social media not social slagging and it’s losing its meaning. It’s pathetic, the way people are spoiling it.’ 

Graeme McDowell currently has 160,000 followers and explained his experince. ‘I’d say there’s three per cent nastiness and some of them are downright evil,’ he said. ‘I think they call them “trolls”. 

In Twitter, or Internet speak, a troll is someone who posts off-topic messages in an online community, with the primary intent of provoking response. 

As McDowell acknowledges “What you can’t do is humour them. But I think if you want to use Twitter as a tool to interact with the real fans, you have to accept there will be a few sad cases.’ 

Former Open champion Paul Lawrie closed his account last year, albeit for different reasons, fed up after both his Facebook and Twitter accounts were hacked into. 

In the golf world the interaction between the younger golfers had become legendary with a number of them also dedicating time to answering fans queries and questions - when flight delays at airports permitted. In one of those instances, Rory McIlory clarified enquiries about his car with a photo of the vehicle parked in his garage after it had been incorrectly reported that the Holywood golfer had splashed out on a Bugatti Veyron worth some $2 million. 

However McIlroy used his Twitter account to discount the claims describing them as "utter rubbish". 

During the Ryder Cup at The Celtic Manor last autumn team Captain Colin Montgomerie allowed the players use Twitter and during various times of the four days the players shared photos and videos of events backstage, much to the delight of fans worldwide. 

At the time McDowell, explained that Montgomerie's position came after Europe's captain had asked his team not to use the social networking site. 

"Monty doesn't want to go banning Twitter," McDowell said. "We are all adults. It goes without saying that we are not going to say something that would unduly affect our team or give any strategy or secrets or tactics away. 

"He trusts us obviously not to do anything too stupid out there. There's been some pretty famous mistakes made in Twitter in the past few months. We are not banned. But I don't think we'll be going crazy on it, either." 

Montgomerie's reticence followed the tweet by England cricketer, Kevin Pietersen, who commented sarcastically on the social network after he was informed that he had been dropped. In doing so the batsman joined a number of athletes to find themselves caught out by the social networking site and had to issue a clarification as a result. 

For Ian Poulter it was weeks after the event that he found himself at the centre of unwanted attention after he uploaded a video showing breakfast being eaten out of the Samuel Ryder trophy with his children. In the short clip, Poulter can be heard saying to the camera “This is breakfast with the Ryder cup', before tipping the cereal into the trophy, pouring over milk and eating it in his kitchen. 

For many it was a step too far, even for the unorthodox English golfer, and was viewed by some  as disrespectful. 

In reality the enduring nature of Twitter is something that is becoming increasingly tested, despite many fans becoming addicted to the sometimes mundane news updates of sports people and celebrities. But in recent months, and indeed weeks, there are increasing instances of information making it to the airwaves that would not meet the basic editorial guidelines of quality news publications. 

It started last January when former Liverpool player Ryan Babel apologised for comments he made about referee Howard Webb in the aftermath of Liverpool's FA Cup exit to Manchester United. The footballer had used his Twitter account to post a mocked-up picture of Webb wearing a United shirt, after the World Cup official awarded the home side a first-minute penalty and sent off Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard. 

The result was Ryan Babel accepted a charge of improper conduct from the Football Association. 

On Friday Sir Alex Ferguson added his thoughts to the Twitter argument confirming that the club were looking at how best to solve the problems after Wayne Rooney became embroiled in recent days in some very negative tweets from followers 

Teammate Darron Gibson closed his account within two hours after receiving largescale abuse some weeks ago. 

“I don’t understand it to be honest with you,” said Ferguson . “I don’t know why anybody can be bothered with that kind of stuff. How do you find the time to do that? There are a million things you can do in your life without that. 

“Get yourself down to the library and read a book. Seriously. It is a waste of time. 

“It seems to have a certain momentum at the moment. Everyone seems to want to do it.”